Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp. and the Lehigh Valley Partnership, a consortium of business leaders in the region, hosted a forum for the candidates vying for Lehigh and Northampton counties’ open seats, at DeSales University’s Gambet Center in Upper Saucon Township.

The questions, led by Muhlenberg College political science professor and pollster Chris Borick, were specifically about economic and job issues in each county and regionally, including stances on tax incremental financing projects, regionalism and the role of county government in job creation.

The panel of Lehigh County candidates were Republican rivals, former commissioner Dean Browning and current commissioner Scott Ott, along with the lone Democrat in the race, county Director of Administration Thomas Muller.

The panel of Northampton County candidates included the three Democratic primary contenders, Bethlehem Mayor John Callahan, county Councilman Lamont McClure and former county executive Glenn Reibman; and the lone Republican, Bangor Mayor John Brown.

Lehigh County candidates

On regionalism, Browning said he wanted to see more regionalized law enforcement and also said the two counties should regionalize their nursing homes.

Muller agreed about law enforcement.

“Criminals don’t know any borders out there; they are certainly regionalized,” Muller said. If that’s where 70 percent of our dollars are going to go we need to spend it wisely.”

Ott questioned having a top-down approach to regionalism.

“Six of us can sit around in a room and dream great dreams about how things could be regionalized,” Ott said. “We need voluntary cooperation upon municipalities, counties and school districts.”

On economic development, Muller touted the county’s economic development department as being active and successful bringing new employers to the county.

Ott said he prefers the private sector drive economic development.

Browning said government involvement is needed, if limited.

“I agree that private sector is the driver, but we need someone to navigate the process” to get employers into Lehigh County, Browning said.

“I think we have a need to develop our work force in Lehigh County,” Browning said.

Browning proposed an educational initiative to get businesses to adopt regional schools to help focus learning on job success.

Ott said he opposes an activist role for the county government, but said it could streamline processes and open more operations up to competitive bidding.

Candidates express varying views on TIF programs, in which a certain percentage of new tax revenue from a development is diverted into some public investment, such as roads or other infrastructure.

Browning expressed support for the TIF program, noting that one such plan in Weisenberg Township attracted a developer to invest about $100 million in the project and bring more than 1,000 jobs to Lehigh county, because the incremental financing paid for bridge and road repairs. Browning said the alternatives were to do nothing or wait for PennDOT to do the work.

Muller said he strongly supports tax incentives but said he’d like to see stronger criteria for job creation before they are approved.

Ott also said he’d like to see more consistent standards to approving such programs to avoid “playing favorites."

Northampton County candidates

McClure promised no county tax increases for four years, which he said would provide stability for business attraction.

Callahan touted $2 billion in business investment in Bethlehem during his tenure. Reibman said his administration saw “unprecedented economic development” during his tenure.

On supporting regionalism, Brown said he’d worked the past 18 months to convince other Slate Belt communities to work toward cooperation on roads, water and police services to better pool financial resources.

Callahan noted the revenue sharing agreement that was signed with neighboring municipalities when the Sands Bethlehem Resort Casino came to the city, calling that a “watershed moment” in regionalism.

Callahan said he’d work toward regionalizing water and sewer authorities and also public health.

McClure said regionalism is hard to define, but he noted that he was a supporter of allowing the enabling legislation for Allentown’s hockey arena development.

“I though as a matter of regionalism … it was important to establish a beachhead of economic development in Allentown,” McClure said.

Reibman also said he’d like to see regionalized public health and a rail system that links the Lehigh Valley to New York and Philadelphia.

On the subjects of using tax abatement tools and tax incremental financing in particular, all candidates found some good in them, but varied in their support.

Callahan said the region should us all the tools it can to encourage economic growth.

“You have to be targeted in the incentives that you use, especially Brownfield (redevelopment) which usually needs a lot of up-front investment.”

Callahan noted he is pushing for a TIF plan to redevelop Martin Tower, the vacant Bethlehem Steel headquarters building in the city’s Lehigh County portion. But he noted they should be used judiciously.